Digital Library of Japanese American Incarceration

The Digital Library of Japanese American Incarceration was created by the Internet Archive in collaboration with Densho (https://densho.org/), and was funded, in part, by a grant from the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Japanese American Confinement Sites Grant Program. (https://www.nps.gov/jacs/)

This collection of more than 500 English language books related to the forced removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans was curated by scholars and organizations from the Japanese American community, representing a comprehensive archive of the most relevant books on this topic.

The collection includes adult non-fiction titles—both academic monographs and popularly oriented works—books for younger readers and creative works such as novels, compilations of short stories, poems, and plays. Many of these volumes  are featured or cited in the Densho Resource Guide to Media on the Japanese American Removal and Incarceration (https://resourceguide.densho.org/). The Densho Resource Guide to Media on the Japanese American Removal and Incarceration is a directory to over 650 children's books, literary works, films and videos, plays, curriculum guides, websites and other media that touch on the incarceration and its aftermath.

Over time, we hope that the reading public will also be able to suggest additional titles to be digitized in a second phase of work.

This project is part of the Internet Archive’s larger initiative, Open Libraries (http://openlibraries.online/), whereby any institution that holds a physical copy of these books may also make their copy available digitally. 

The Internet Archive is also working with the Wikimedia Foundation to vastly increase discovery and use of these digital books. By clicking on the Wikipedia reference link, readers will be taken to the full text inside books from this collection, with the opportunity to check out the book itself. Our goal is to weave the best sources of information about the Japanese American incarceration experience into the articles where readers turn first.

We hope that the Digital Library of Japanese American Incarceration will be a boon to researchers, educators, and all others who have an interest in the topic. The project will preserve and safeguard the content of some rare older books that might otherwise be endangered. As those who were incarcerated pass away and into memory, we seek to create an enduring repository of knowledge that will counter misinformation about this important lesson in American history. 

Today, we live in a digital age where if a book isn’t online, it’s as if it doesn’t exist. Our goal is to provide free, long-term public access to the most important, diverse, and inclusive set of materials possible. We hope that the Digital Library of Japanese American Incarceration will keep the story of Japanese Americans on the digital shelves for future generations to discover.

---Wendy Hanamura

    Project Lead & Director of Partnerships, Internet Archive

This project was funded, in part, by a grant from the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Japanese American Confinement Sites Grant Program. The views and conclusions contained in this document are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as representing the opinions or policies of the U.S. Government. Mention of trade names or commercial products does not constitute their endorsement by the U.S. Government.